Armando Testa - Pirelli - Atlante

Armando Testa
Pirelli - Atlante
30 x 42 cm

Like new (never framed)

The famous advertising campaign "Atlante" was conceived by Armando Testa for Pirelli tires starting from 1954-1955. It is one of the most brilliant examples of the creative genius of the Turin advertising man and of the rich graphic era of the 1950s in Italy.

The central idea of the campaign consists in the "animalization" of the product. To promote the new line of tires for heavy industrial vehicles (named Atlante, indeed), Testa chose the figure of an elephant, a universal symbol of monumental strength and geometric resilience.

The surreal touch typical of the author lies in the fusion between the animal and the product: in place of the head and trunk, the elephant assumes the sharp geometric shape and the tread profile of a tire. The figure immediately evokes the image of a modern metropolitan titan capable of bearing enormous strain, accompanied by the famous slogan (or claim): “The giant that will go a long way”